Wandlore
by Kalel9474
Summary: Wandlore:  A discourse on the matter of wands and the heart.  Drarry Romance.  I believe that Harry deserved an answer.  "Why didn't you tell her?  Bellatrix."  Don't you?  Everything else just followed.  Would love to get your feedback.
1. Chapter 1

**Wandlore: A discourse on the matter of wands and the heart.**

"The Wand chooses the Wizard. That much has always been clear..."

I stood in the Room of Requirement. In the middle of warehouses of school property. Alone. Me against the three of them, while the battle raged outside. It was a strangely open, public place for such a personal question, but I had to know. I really had to know.

"Why didn't you tell her? Bellatrix. You knew it was me... You didn't say anything."

"I want my wand, Potter."

"It's nice to want, Malfoy. Tell me why."

"Give it to me."

"Tell me why you didn't tell her." Still no response. His towering ego was annoying. "Come and take it then, if you want it."

He didn't expect that. I could see it jolt him out of his arrogance. He came forward one slow step at a time, leaving Crabbe and Goyle, closing the gap between us. His eyes never left mine and then our hands touched. The wand began to glow. The hawthorn wand, precisely ten inches with a unicorn's hair for a core, created a globe of golden light - on its own.

"Tell me why." For the first time, I really looked into his eyes. I searched their crystalline ocean-blue depths. I finally saw it. It was like watching the Great Wall of China if it were to crumble, Draco's will. Somehow in the light of the wand, he knew at last. We knew.

"I could never let her hurt you. I have wanted us to be together since the very first time we met. Don't you remember? It was always you. I love you, Harry Potter." he whispered.

More light. Blinding. Incandescent. There is nowhere else, no other time that I would possibly believe this, but in that light and in my heart there was no doubt that I was hearing the truth. All the years of fighting, of hatred and now, this. I saw the fight in the second-floor girl's lavatory for what it really was. I wasn't ready. I wasn't ready for this truth. In the middle of this war, of the final stand at Hogwarts, of facing certain death and I simply wasn't ready. For the first time I really saw Draco Malfoy. In all of his pride... All of his brilliance, loneliness and bitterness. And underneath all of that I saw the beautiful heart and soul of a man - of a man who loved me. I wasn't ready for what I was feeling. When is anyone really ready to have their heart's truth revealed? And so, I whispered back... exactly as he said it to me. "I love you, Draco Malfoy."

The golden light got even brighter and we both heard a voice. A female voice steeped in the magic of nature, of life, of love. We stopped looking into each other's eyes and looked at the wand in our joined hands, our wand. And heard the voice of a unicorn. "So now you know. You know why I chose you, both of you. One heart, one soul, linked forever." I had only felt magic like this once before, it is what I felt on the night my mother kissed me goodbye. Shining glyphs surrounded the globe of light and fell around us like rain.

It is precisely then that we looked back at each other and I heard Crabbe and Goyle. "Draco? What is going on? Draco? Don't be a prat. Bring him to the Dark Lord."

It was magic. It was perfection. It was moving in a unison so perfect. So fast. It was a dance. Draco spun left - "Stupify." I lunged right - "Petrificus Totalus." Neither of them stood a chance. The echo of the twin spells kept going long after the two Slytherins fell to the ground. And suddenly there was no space between us, no words, no opposing sides and no one to keep us apart. I ran my hand through his golden blond hair, down the curve of his chin. As far as first kisses go, I have to tell you... the best ever.


	2. Chapter 2

And that is exactly how Ron and Hermione found us. Lost in each other's arms.

"Whoa... What?" Ron was eloquent. Hermione just stared, but the tilt of her head and the arch of her eyebrow spoke volumes.

"Later." Her eyebrow rose higher. "Please? He is on our side."

"You are, aren't you? On our side I mean." It is the first time I ever saw Draco with a real smile. And that is of course, as they say, when all hell broke loose. Goyle must have fought off the spell. Fire sprung up everywhere. We ran, Ron, Hermione, me and the love of my life. And then we flew. Hermione was the only non-Quidditch player among us. I have to say though if she had been playing a match for us, we would have won. Hands down. The door to the Room of Requirement slammed shut behind us. We made it. They didn't. End of story.

We lay there in shock. And the only thing I could think of was Draco. The world was literally ending around us and I could only think of him, of what just happened between us. I moved to hold him close, to kiss him into existence and make sure this was real. But Ron interrupted and he was right. Despite my own revelations and even love, we had to find the last horcrux. I had to look into Voldemort's mind, again. And that of course, is how we wound up behind the wall at the boathouse. How I wound up holding a man I hated. A man I wanted to destroy, trying to stop the flow of his life's blood.

There was no surprise in Snape's eyes as he saw Draco and I kneeling by his side. At least he could have the decency to be surprised... I was. "Take them." And I knew, even without the gesture, exactly what he meant. So Hermione and the endless bag came to our rescue again. I wish they hadn't.

I backed up and slid down the wall in Dumbledore's empty office. Not seeing, not wanting to see anything. Draco put his arms around me and rocked me back and forth. I wanted to be angry. I wanted to be mad in the worst way. I just couldn't. The man I trusted, Dumbledore, I trusted him still. Eventually I straightened. "Draco, this is the way it has to be. You saw it. Even if we... It just doesn't matter. This is the way it always had to end." No tears. No begging. No trying to stop me. He gave back to me an image of pure strength.

"Well, you may have to die tonight. But you will die knowing how much I love you."

And then he kissed me. A very serious kiss that started my heart racing. It was fast. There was no time for gentle. It was lightning, thunder and fire. And it ended with a kiss. One that said everything there ever was or needed to be said. And so we walked hand in hand out of Dumbledore's office down the great staircase and right in to Ron and Hermione.

I whispered to Draco, "let me."

Hermione was first. "Where have you been?"

"We thought you knocked him out, tied him up and went to the forest on your own." added Ron. Draco smirked.

"I am going there now."

"Are you mad, Harry? No. You can't give yourself up to him."

"What is it Harry? What is it you know?" Bless her. She was always the quickest.

"There is a reason I can hear them, Hermione. The horcruxes. I think I have known for a while. And I think you have too." Have you ever noticed that silence has shape, texture? Even more than words. It was the shape of goodbye.

"I'll go with you."

"No. Kill the snake. Kill the snake and it's just him." I looked at all three of them. "Work together. I know you can do it. I..." I hugged Hermione. I hugged Draco so hard. And I looked at Ron, begging him to understand with my eyes. And I left them there. My two best friends in the whole world and a love so new that I had no time... I left them there. All three pieces of my heart.


	3. Chapter 3

Of course it had to be Aragog's lair. It was actually nicer with the spiders. With my mother's words filling my soul and all of the people I loved in my heart, I stepped into the clearing to face Tom Riddle, who could not comprehend any of these things. My godfather was right, quicker than falling asleep. The most incongruous thing yet, Death.

Well, not so much the most incongruous thing, that was actually coming back to consciousness and feeling someone walking towards me. I knew it was his mother even before she touched me. Narcissa. I could feel her as an echo of the man I loved. "Is he alive? Draco. Is my son alive?" I wanted to tell her everything that had happened. That out of everything Voldemort had done to Draco, it was his family's pain that hurt the most. I wanted to tell her how much her son loved her. I wanted to tell her that I loved him. I could only nod.

We marched back to the school. It was everything I could do not to move. I couldn't feel Narcissa, either there was too much distance between us or there was too many people. But I knew when we reached Hogwarts. I could hear the army's footsteps on the bridge that led to the only home I have ever known.

"Who will join me?" Voldemort said. Of all of the taunts and the jeers, it was this question that made me cringe. My heart was breaking for my friends that were offered this choice. My heart was breaking for the one I knew would be hurt the most. I knew what was coming. And so...

"Draco come" Narcissa begged. And Draco walked forward. Only hours before he would have walked all the way. All the way over that stone bridge and left everyone behind. He would have left me behind. Only a couple of hours before. I was the only one who knew that he would stop. Half way between the two deadly forces. That he would stop, hold out his hand and say "Mother, come here. Please come to me." It was a miracle that Voldemort didn't stop her. She moved to her son and like me, looked deep into his ocean-blue eyes and finally saw him. From where I lay in Hagrid's arms, I could even see her eyes widen.

Voldemort's wand finally lifted. "You will not betray me. Malfoys will never betray me again. "Avada"...

Have you ever been in the middle of three spells going off simultaneously? No? Think of a nuclear explosion confined in an itty bitty tiny living space. A crater erupted between them and threw Voldemort and all of the Death Eaters on their bony arses.

1 - Draco was the first. He acted immediately to protect his mother. - "Protego!"

2 - It was Lucius who was second. He had watched the only two people he loved come together in the middle of a battlefield. And all of his machinations, all of his plots went up in smoke as he acted to save the wife he loved and the son he would die to protect. - "Protego!"

3 - I was third. Anger like nothing I have ever felt before boiled out of me. I rolled out of Hagrid's arms, fell to the ground - "Protego! Tom Riddle, you will never harm another family ever again." And then hell really did break loose.

We fought and chased and ran and fought some more. There was no elegance to this fight, it was two school boys overcome with emotion, clawing and kicking and screaming. It was two men who knew they couldn't live if the other continued on past this moment. "Come Tom, let's finish this the way we started. Together." We fell and still continued to fight. We finally came to a crash landing - breathless, shaken.

A crash landing in the courtyard. It would end here. Here in the great courtyard of Hogwarts. Where it all began. Broken and bloody, we crawled, reaching our wands almost at the same time. And felt the snake die. Nagini was dead. I would learn later that it was Neville who we owed our lives. But right then, Voldemort's anger was a thunderclap. I barely was able to defend in time. The twin forces hit each other, time slowed down and the world narrowed to nothing but his will and mine.

I didn't know where Draco had been. But in the midst of my struggle with Voldemort's power, I could sense him near me, coming closer. And suddenly, it was two wands against one as Draco's magic merged with mine. The fires kicked and spat. The green hate of Voldemort funneled through the Elder Wand. The two forces met in the middle of courtyard. And anything caught there was utterly destroyed. I could feel the pull. The tremendous amount of hate that was aimed at me and the man I now loved. But I also felt Draco at my side, against all odds. I could feel the bond we shared. I could feel his love for me and I could feel our power in the wand I wielded. And then Draco, who I freely admit can be far brighter than me, said "Harry, there is one more wand that binds us. The most powerful wand of all. And it is ours, my love." Remember what I said about truth and the heart? So, not the most powerful spell, but my favorite. And I knew it would work, "Expelliarmus!"

The Elder Wand flew through the air. When I caught it, it was the phone ringing after hours of worry, the car pulling up in the middle of a blizzard, the breath of life when I woke in the woods and the feeling of our first kiss. And like a lover coming home, which on so many levels was really the case. I was expecting to feel a spark. What I felt was the most intense feeling of coming home, of a warm blanket settling on my shoulders. "So long. It has been so long my love." And the silver voice of a unicorn. "Home at last."

Once again, we acted in perfect unison. Energy sparked and flared from our wands and a ball of fire, a miniature sun, flew at Tom Marvolo Riddle. It was the last thing he ever saw. There was nothing left of him, or his soul, on this side of night - just ashes blowing in the wind. Nothing left of him to trouble this world, or any other world, this side of day.

The voice of the Elder Wand was very different from that of Draco's unicorn. It was a voice of the ancient earth, of hidden glades and long forgotten caves. "They of course have got it wrong. Death is just part of the pattern, part of the cycle. The holders of the Deathly Hallows are my lieutenants here on this earth, not my enemies. They are here to help me maintain the balance. To ensure the pattern of life is held true, to prevent things like Tom Riddle from ever happening. Will you serve me? Will you, the two of you, be my Champions?"


	4. Chapter 4

I never thought that the Weasleys and the Malfoys could be friends. I thought there was too much animosity, too much pain. But thanks to Narcissa and Ron, even the Boy Who lived could be surprised.

When we made it back to the dining hall/infirmary, Narcissa lurched to a halt staring at the Weasleys huddled around Fred's cold still body. She watched with her arm around her son and then she left Draco in my arms and she walked purposefully towards Molly Weasley. I didn't know what to do, we were so exhausted and I had never seen that expression on Mrs. Weasley's face. "I killed Bellatrix and I would gladly do it again if it came to protecting my family, Narcissa." Silence. Silence stretching out as two mothers met in the aftermath. A deep ragged breath and..."You did what you had to do. At the end, she was an abomination. Molly, I thought I had lost my son tonight. I thought..." her breath caught and she couldn't go on and it was Molly that held out her arms and Narcissa who hung on as they both cried, finally letting go of all this night and the long battle had done to them.

The second time I have ever saw this beautiful proud woman cry was at the Wedding. She insisted. And after what we shared in the forest. And what she risked to make possible, would you have been able to tell her "no"? to anything? "Let me handle everything she said. We need this. All the Wizards need to come together and celebrate what my two sons have accomplished. My dear young man. For me." Yeah... it was like that. It was bigger than Charles and Diana's, William and Kate's. Nearly Headless Nick said that it was bigger than Napoleon and Josephine's. It was in the Great Hall at Hogwarts. And from whichever "train" he had taken from King's Cross Station, Dumbledore was smiling down on us. It was all so much, I don't remember much of anything, but Hermione standing by me. And yes, ...wait for it. Who was across from us? Ronald Weasley in a black silk Armani tuxedo. Looking as uncomfortable as I have ever seen him. You did know that Giorgio Armani was a wizard right? Draco says that he is the best there is at both muggle and wizard clothing. Even I have to admit, he looked pretty sharp. But I digress.

It was Ron who stood for Draco Malfoy that day. When I asked him why he eventually befriended the man who hold's my heart and all of my dreams. He took me on a long walk on the busy streets of London and in confidence told me this. "Harry when you walked out of Hogwarts, I thought he was going to die. He watched you until the doors closed and then he collapsed to his knees. I have never seen anyone cry like that, I thought someone had hit him with the Cruciatus Curse. Hermione had to knock him out with some spell I still don't know how to pronounce. Trust me when I say this Harry. He loves you more than his own life, his own death."

I also still believe that Ron somehow managed to diffuse Ginny after I told her about me and Draco. And no, I am not going to tell you about that conversation. Imagine the worst possible fight between two people who thought they loved each other. Multiply it by infinity and you might come close. Nope, I don't need to relive that and you really don't need to know - trust me.

Of the ceremony itself, I only remember looking into Draco's eyes and saying "I will love you forever." And "I do." And the Kiss. How did he know all those years ago? How did he know that we belonged together? It was too quick. It was too slow. It made me weak in the knees.

And after that, I pretty much only remember the Honeymoon. Every touch, every kiss, every moment of ecstasy I shared with my partner. It was an island. A beautiful tropical island with only two young horny wizards in residence. I told Draco that I didn't even know that people could own an island. "Harry, please, of course they can. For instance...um... we do. It is a wedding gift from my parents." I must have looked like a Crumple-Horned Snorkack. I must have stopped breathing. Because he proceeded to give me CPR and I forgot everything for a while. But afterwards, Narcissa and I came to an agreement about extravagance. A very strong agreement.


	5. Chapter 5

I got to know this incredible woman who I now called my Mother. I saw her lose her temper only once. It was about returning to Malfoy Manor. My in-laws had been living in a downtown apartment since the War ended. The fight started after we had gone out for dinner. It started with - Lucius saying that he wanted to repair his family home, in the middle was - Draco and I looking at each other and it ended with - Narcissa standing, pointing her wand at my father-in-law's heart and saying "Do you think that our sons could ever go back there and not remember? Do you think that I could? It is going to be razed to the ground. And we are never going back. OR YOU CAN IF YOU WANT, but you will do it without me Lucius Malfoy. And by without me, I mean forever." In my personal opinion she had never looked more beautiful. And as they say, that was the end of that. It was razed to the ground. In its place is now a long-term care campus donated to St. Mungos. I felt sorry for Draco losing his home, but he tells me every time that Number 12, Grimmauld Place is his home now (Yes, I let Narcissa redecorate it. Who knew she liked pink? It is actually very tasteful, comfortable and homey, thank you.)

For me it is the gardens. But for others, the new Malfoy Manor is like all of those castles that you dream about. It is big and warm and cozy. It is everything every Disney character ever wanted in a home. In a home built for hundreds of people. But a home none the less. The entry way and grand staircase, the towers, the beautifully decorated bedrooms, the great hall, the atrium, the Versaille ballroom, the Library that Hermione visits more often than the Ministry's. And an entire wing for all of Narcissa's assistants with all of their lists.

As I said, for me though, it is the gardens. There is a kind of peace there. It is a physical place that somehow mirrors what Draco and I feel inside - how the Hallows feel when we use them. After a very different dinner at the Weasley homestead, Narcissa turned to Molly and said, "I have something in mind for the new place and I need your help." And they were secluded for an entire day. They began working on it before anyone moved in. Hours, days, millennia were spent on tilling the earth and preparing the acres of planting beds. And neither one of them used so much as a flick of a wand. If you don't believe me. I have the pictures. I have pictures of gloves and mud and earth and manure and dirty aprons and smudges on the faces of Narcissa Malfoy and Molly Weasley.

With the first blooms of Spring, I was given the tour. My mother-in-law showed me around the meandering paths, the maze (that had no resemblance to the Tri-Wizard Cup), the fountains, the aviary. We would pass a particular rose or a particular flower and she would pause and whisper a name under her breath - Phoebe Pinehollow, Jonathan Cleaves, Mary Jamison, Charity Burbage. "Harry each flower that we planted is for someone who we lost in the war. All the people we lost, on both sides." And then she showed me the grotto. It was an explosion of color. In it was every kind of lily you could possibly imagine. They were planted in the ground, in pots, in hanging pots, in pots that were on trellises. There was a reflection pool. "This is just for the family Harry, just for us and our close friends. Molly and I built this for your mother." Yeah, I was choked up. I wasn't sure I could move, so she set us both down on a carved wooden bench. I took her hand in mine and we were silent for a long time.

It was hard for me to speak. "It is lovely beyond words. Thank you. Thank you so very much. But this place will always be for all three of my mothers. For Lily who bore me, who made the ultimate sacrifice and who is with me still, for Molly who took me in and for you who gave me your son, who gave me a new family. Draco could not be the man I came to love without you Narcissa. Neither of us would be here if it wasn't for you, your courage to stand up to Voldemort. To risk everything for your son, for me." It was the third time I ever saw her cry, crystalline tears from such startling beautiful eyes (just like his). She dried them with a lace handkerchief. Then she put her hand over my heart and I nodded, just like I had in the Forbidden Forest. It became our ritual. If we were both alone in the garden, we would find our way to that bench and sit in silence.. remembering. And then she would touch my heart and I would nod. And we would leave the garden to greet the light of a new dawn, a new day, a much brighter future... because of good people making hard choices and doing extraordinary things.

All the others visit the gardens, too. It is the place where we all go to relax and decompress, even when the weather was not so beautiful. It is always beautiful inside our garden. Did you know that there are weather spells and confluences that can be harnessed to maintain a perfect environment? No? I didn't either, but ask Hermione if you want the details. On any given day you can find her on the bench reading a book with Ron's head in her lap. Neville and Luna. Lucius and Narcissa when the memories get too strong. Mr. & Mrs. Weasley walking arm in arm. Percy and his new bride. Bill and Fleur. One time I came across the voices of Molly and Narcissa and I finally found out the purpose for the entire wing of assistants. Between them and Headmistress McGonagal (who else would it be?). They had worked to identify all of the war victims. Flowers, funeral arrangements, hospital bills. That wing was dedicated to helping with the most important part of the recovery effort, people's lives. A bill would be paid by an anonymous source. A meal would be delivered to a family in need. A shelter was started in a distant shire. Books and school uniforms. I tip-toed away. If they had wanted me to know, they would have told me. See, even I have grown wiser.

The gardens were a perfect place for Draco and I to wind down after a particularly brutal case. It was tough at first. We had a lot of things to overcome and all the difficult cases came our way. But we grew in our profession, as we grew in our lives, together. We became the unbeatable Auror team. We took on the difficult cases and we solved them. We solved them because of who we were, what we had been through together, the gifts we were given and the love we shared. Eventually other country's came to us for help. We became the Interpol of the Wizard World. Ron and Hermione tease us, "Bond. James Bond." But when it can't be solved, when they need help, when it involves death or dark magic, they come to Harry & Draco Potter-Malfoy. Heads of the Department of Aurors. Ministry of Magic. Great Britain.

-x-x-x-x-x-

"The Wand chooses the Wizard." I hate to disagree with Mr. Ollivander. After everything, we have grown fond of the wandmaker. He has been invaluable in helping Draco and I with our new vocation. But for those of you out there wondering, I would amend the above statement as follows... A wand chooses their wizards!


End file.
